Three Saudis arrested for covering protests

New York, March 16, 2012--Three Saudi Web managers whose
sites cover political unrest in the country's highly restricted Eastern
Province should be released from detention immediately, the Committee to
Protect Journalists said today.

Habib Ali al-Maatiq, a photographer who supervised thenews website Al-Fajr Cultural
Network, was arrested by security forces on February 22 at his workplace in
the city of Jubail, news outlets reported. Another
photographer, Hussein Malik al-Salam, who also managed the site, was arrested
by security forces the next day while at his university in Jubail, news reports
said. The journalists are being held without charge in a prison in Dammam, the
capital of the Eastern Province,
news reports said.

Al-Fajr Cultural Network covers pro-reform protests in the predominantly Shiite region, which
has consistently faced discrimination and repression by the regime, local
journalists told CPJ. The website, which was taken down after the journalists
were arrested, has also published sermons by Shiite sheikhs who support
the protests.

Jalal Mohamed al-Jamal, who manages the news website Al-Awamia, was arrested on February 25 by security forces in the city of
Al-Qatif and taken to an unknown location, local journalists told CPJ. A local
journalist said al-Jamal was accused of opposing the state and inciting
its downfall, but the charges have not been made public. Al-Awamia, which was taken down after al-Jamal's
arrest, was instrumental in covering the pro-reform demonstrations in
the Eastern Province and is known for its criticism of the regime, news
reports said.

"These three men are being held because they dared to
collect and disseminate information that the government prefers to keep out of
sight," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa program
coordinator. "Authorities must release them and restore access to the websites
they were operating."

The kingdom has obstructed coverage of the protests in the
Eastern Province, which call for political reforms and greater rights for the
country's Shiite minority, CPJ research
shows. No foreign or local journalists have been allowed to enter the
province, and in the absence of independent reporting, coverage of the unrest
is carried out by websites like Al-Fajr
Cultural Network and Al-Awamia.